Darren Wilson's Side of the Story

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by sheltiedave

Finn, a lot of what Al says is spot on. If we just get stuck at Brown, and don't make corrections on BOTH sides, we will never get anywhere. Rex and I are parents, and what we see are two relative kids who both got things wrong. Both Wilson and Brown were dumb as rocks at times in their confrontation.

Brown did some stupid things that would put him behind bars for a while.

Wilson killed someone he did not need to kill.

But if we don't correct our police force MO so that proportional response is the norm, rather than the exception, then we will continue to excel at killing blacks at a level 27 times more than whites, by cop. And we will have numerous deaths at the margins where ineffectual grand juries and dismotivated prosecutors will avoid public justice.

If we don't strive to create equal access to opportunity, education, and safe streets, we fail.

If we have a majority of whites in the country who have never eaten dinner at a black family dinner table, who will never attend a black church worship service, who have never set foot on a historical black college campus, we fail.

If you travel around the world, but never step outside your comfort zone, then sitting in your easy chair will be just as rewarding.

Good post, however, if one wants to solve this problem, they don't pick a serial thug as their poster-child, they don't burn down their town, and they don't have Al Sharpton as their (self-appointed) spokesman, much less accuse people who accept the grand jury's findings (as the best than can be made of an ambiguous situation) of racism, bigotry and KKK membership. They're turning off the very people they need to reach to make a meaningful difference.

As for getting outside my comfort zone, that's what I do (and have done for years) for fun. I go on vacation to Memphis, the Mississippi Delta, the neighborhoods of New Orleans, Bayou Country, Turkey, Israel, Jordan and the West Bank and lived in downtown DC and New Orleans. My oldest son, whose career choice and progression is just like mine was, just flew back tonight from a 5 day Thanksgiving vacation in Kiev. The places I go and things I do make a lot of people pucker up and question my sanity.